Composition at the Peabody
Considered among the world's elite musical training grounds for more than a century, the Peabody Conservatory's dedication to composition has never wavered in its now 150+ year history. As a division of The Johns Hopkins University, Peabody takes its place alongside the institution's other internationally renowned centers of research and learning, shaping the role of music in the new century.
Among the composers who have served on the Peabody faculty over the generations are Henry Cowell, Nadia Boulanger, Elliot Carter, Peter Mennin, Ernst Krenek, Benjamin Lees, Earle Brown, Hugo Weisgall, Jean Eichelberger Ivey, Robert Hall Lewis, Moshe Cotel, Chen Yi, Christopher Theofanidis, and Nicholas Maw. The commitment to creating the ideal environment for the composers of tomorrow continues today.
Peabody composition alumni can be found teaching at elite institutions across the United States and abroad, and are regular winners of prestigious fellowships and competitions. Over just the past few years Peabody students have been Fulbright Fellows, Carnegie Hall Commission recipients, the American Composers Orchestra Underwood Commission recipients; participants of the Minnesota Orchestra Readings Program, the Cabrillo Contemporary Music Festival Program, the Silk Road Project, and the ACO/Nashville Symphony Orchestra Reading Program; and winners of prizes including the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers top award – the Nissim Prize, ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer and BMI Student Composer Awards. Alumni of Peabody's composition department have received the Pulitzer Prize; are Guggenheim Fellows, Rome Prize Fellows, Barlow Prize and Berlin Prize recipients; recipients of Fromm Foundation Awards, prizes from Darmstadt and Gaudeamus, among many, many others.